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Quality Digest
Customer satisfaction slowly and steadily climbed during the fourth quarter of 2005, according to The American Customer Satisfaction Index.The index is released quarterly and examines customer satisfaction in rotating groups. During the fourth quarter, it measures satisfaction with the quality…
Quality Digest
A new ISO/IEC standard aims to harmonize the various approaches used around the world for assessing the quality of e-learning initiatives. ISO/IEC 19796:2005, Information technology—learning, education and training, quality management, assurance and metrics—provides an overall framework to…
Mike Micklewright
Why don’t registrar auditors audit clause 7.4 Purchasing of ISO 9001 when it comes to purchasing their services? After all, they’re providing a service that affects the quality of your operations, processes, and eventually, products.ISO 9001 states that your company “Shall evaluate and select…
Quality Digest
PharmaManufacturing.com was recently named a finalist for the Best B2B Web Site award in American Business Media’s 52nd annual Jesse H. Neal Business Journalism Awards program. PharmaManufacturing.com is affiliated with Pharmaceutical Manufacturing magazine, a publication of Putman…
Quality Digest
Heightened awareness among electrosurgical-device companies and health care consumers about the potential spread of communicable diseases during surgery has increased market demand for disposable surgical devices. While this is good news for large-scale manufacturers, high expec-tations…
Quality Digest
Cognex Corp. will host a series of complimentary machine vision seminars for pharmaceutical professionals involved with packaging operations. The half-day seminars, titled “Applying Machine Vision to Pharmaceutical Packaging” will be held in March and April in Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey…
William L. Roper
A revolution is working its way through America’s health care systems. Like many great revolutions, it’s about empowerment and the creation of a new paradigm. It won’t happen overnight, but the forces at work are irresistible and will bring new hope and new responsibilities. The agent…
Quality Digest
Digirad Corp., a provider of cardiovascular imaging services and solid-state nuclear medicine imaging products, recently achieved registration to ISO 13485:2003. The standard specifies a quality management system for medical device manufacturers and complies with the Canadian Medical…
Quality Digest
Five pharmaceutical facilities from all over the world were recently named finalists for the second-annual Facility of the Year competition. AstraZeneca, Baxter BioPharma Solutions, Daiichi Asubio Pharma Co., Janssen Pharmaceutica and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals are the finalists in the…
Quality Digest
Northrop Grumman Corp. recently achieved its 25th Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level 5 rating, the highest possible rating for benchmarking commercial and defense industry best practices for management and engineering. The rating was…
Quality Digest
Effective this month, Canada’s National Quality Institute will no longer offer auditor certification. The organization, which is Canada’s leading nonprofit quality training and recognition organization, reports that it wants to focus its energies on personnel certification and…
Quality Digest
HealthGate Data Corp. has released a new version of its popular Quality Architect software, a product that features innovative tools for continuous improvement in health care environments. The new release includes an expanded library of evidence-based clinical content, including order…
Quality Digest
Delegates at the World Standards Cooperation (WSC) workshop agreed that futuristic, digitally connected home networks need an international standard by which to comply. Household connectivity is growing rapidly, with more and more electronic devices and remote networks that control…
Bill Kalmar
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first orbiting satellite, Sputnik. This elliptical sphere the size of a basketball took 98 minutes to encircle the earth and emitted a faint beep as it made its momentous trip. It provided no information back to mother Earth and yet it…
Quality Digest
A new business-process–outsourcing contract Wachovia recently made with Genpact will allow Genpact to drive Six Sigma deeply into the banking giant. Genpact, which was established as a financial services subsidiary of GE Capital and broke off from the company in 2004, reports that all of…
Quality Digest
The 4th Annual Six Sigma in Healthcare Conference will be held March 29–31 at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. James G. Springfield, president and CEO of Valley Baptist Health System, will share Valley Baptist’s Six Sigma journey in his keynote address. Valley Baptist has…
Quality Digest
six sigma IQ recently announced the speaker panel for its upcoming Six Sigma Summit in London.The panel includes Sir John Harvey-Jones, from the BBC television series Troubleshooter and former chairman of ICI; Dieter List, Alstom Power Services director of business performance…
Quality Digest
Cessna Aircraft Co. reports that the implementation of lean and Six Sigma helped it make significant gains last year. The company delivered 249 Citation jets, 822 single-engine pistons and 86 Caravan single-engine turboprops, and won FAA certification for two new jets, among other…
Quality Digest
Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey recently announced three recipients of the Army Performance Excellence Awards. The winners are: the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey (Gold Award); Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield…
Gregory Roth II
I, for one, am tired of the quality flavor of the month. It isn’t quite that bad but it seems like it at times. Have you been through statistical quality control, TQM, total quality speed, re-engineering, zero defects, quality circles, SPC, Motorola Six Sigma, AlliedSignal Six Sigma, GE…
Quality Digest
The W. Edwards Deming Institute will host “How to Create Unethical, Ineffective Organizations That Go Out of Business,” a seminar for executives and leaders in all types of organizations. The event, to be held April 24–26 in Boston, will expose the 27 faulty management and corporate…
Quality Digest
e-TQM College is now accepting applicants for its third annual Pan Arab Media Quality Award. Candidates should submit in-depth, TQM-related, published articles or programs for four award categories: best article, best feature, best interview and best research. Subjects may include…
Quality Digest
Manipal Hospital of Bangalore, India, recently received that country’s prestigious Golden Peacock National Quality Award. The 15-year-old hospital has 600 beds and is India’s first multi-specialty tertiary care center to be registered to ISO 9001. Additionally, its Manipal Hospital…
Quality Digest
QA Edge Inc. will host a three-day conference on computer validation May 1–3 in Malvern, Pennsylvania. “Risk-Based Approach to Computer Validation” will be held at Penn State’s Great Valley Campus. The focus will be on using computer-validation best practices to lower risk and overall…
Quality Digest
Aiming to promote professional excellence and provide travelers with safe, secure and efficient airports, Airports Council International’s upcoming conference will focus on service quality in airports around the world. The Airport Service Quality Conference will include workshops, one-on-one…